No immediate health risk from asbestos found at Moana Pool

Dunedin (Wednesday, 20 April 2016) – There is no immediate health risk to staff or the public from asbestos found in plant and storage areas of Moana Pool, testing shows.

The Dunedin City Council Parks and Recreation department discovered asbestos was present in restricted areas of the pool following recent maintenance checks of the buildings that house its operations.

DCC Group Manager Parks and Recreation Richard Saunders says the maintenance checks identified further inspection and testing for asbestos was needed at several sites, of which Moana Pool was one.

“Clearly we take any potential health and safety risks to our staff or the public very seriously.

“Testing by qualified contractors confirmed asbestos is present in some areas, which is to be expected in a building of this age. We then immediately isolated these areas, which are mainly plant and storage areas, as a precaution and restricted access.

However, subsequent air testing to date has shown it poses zero immediate risk to people’s health.”

No asbestos has been found in public areas of the pool and expert advice to date shows this is a low risk area. However, precautionary tests of all the public areas have been carried out, with results due tomorrow.

Mr Saunders says a detailed final report outlining what should be done next is expected by early next week. Options could include continuing to restrict access, sealing off affected areas or removal of the asbestos.

“It’s good we have been alerted to this now so we can take action before it becomes an issue.”

Initial inspections have been carried out at two other buildings, the Sims building in Port Chalmers, which is leased to a club, and a storage shed located next to Tahuna Park used by Parks and Recreation staff and contractors.

Those inspections have not raised any immediate health and safety concerns, but as a precaution all users are being notified and access will be restricted until further testing is complete.

Mr Saunders says relevant staff have been advised and the department was working with them to address any concerns they may have.

The asset maintenance checks were the result of new systems introduced by the department.

In terms of other DCC owned buildings, Property Manager Kevin Taylor says, “As part of our planned asset management, we are preparing a register of buildings which may contain asbestos so we can audit their current state.”

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